This is dog gone nuts!

Some people will make the case that dogs are lucky in that they can lick themselves.
Turns out, it's not such a great advantage after all, especially when it's really cold outside.

Dog Frozen to Railroad Tracks Is Rescued

Thursday, December 22, 2005
12-22) 13:33 PST Chippewa Falls, WIS. (AP) --

Jeremy Majorowicz thought something was wrong when he saw a dog sitting on railroad tracks for at least two hours. But he didn't realize how wrong until he and several other men determined that the gray and white husky had been literally frozen to the ties in below zero weather.

The construction worker first saw the dog on the tracks before his crew called off work for the day Monday because of the cold, and headed to a restaurant. But the dog was still there when they returned 1 1/2 hours later.

"I like animals, and I didn't want to see it get hurt," Majorowicz said.

He approached the dog, and offered it a bit of a muffin, but the animal wouldn't bite.

"I have two dogs myself, so I didn't want to leave the dog if there was something wrong," Majorowicz said, so he called the police.

Police Officer Tim Strand said the dog was "shivering unmercifully" when he arrived and would not come to him, so he called animal control officer Al Heyde.

Heyde hooked the dog around the neck with a catch pole in an attempt to capture the dog, but it would not budge.

Strand then determined the dog was frozen to the railroad ties.

"I lifted his tail and hind quarters, and saw he was literally frozen to the tracks," Strand said. "He was pretty hunkered down."

Strand pulled hard on the dog's tail, and was able to release him, but he said the move pulled a lot of hair from the dog.

"He gave a heck of a whelp," the officer said. (duh!)

A train was scheduled to pass across the tracks about 10 minutes after the rescue was completed.

"If the dog would have seen that train I'm afraid it would have been the end of the pupster," Strand said.

The dog was transported to the Chippewa County Humane Association, where it was wrapped in blankets and cuddled until it got warm. (happy ending)